That s what friends are for
by jenesaispas14
Summary: This is just a one shot about what happened after the drive-by shooting in the end of the backdoor pilot of NICS: Los Angeles


This is my first story, so I´d appreciate any kinds of critics that are thrown at me.

That´s what friends are for

Callen has a really good memory. Some might say that it has the qualities of a photographic memory, but G has never been one to brag about it.

Now, as far as his memories are concerned, there has never been a time where his partner Sam Hanna was not there for him. I know, their partnership had not always been as it is today, but when one needed to depend on the other one, they had always had each other´s back.

Sam, the stoic and intimidating former Navy SEAL, had been enrolled to the NCIS special OSP as a new partner for the legendary Special Agent G Callen, does certainly not look like a caring, soft guy, but, as one can say, under the hard shell lies a soft core, he soon took over the role of a "mother-hen" to his partner.

At the beginning, both did not even want to talk to each other, because their pride did not allow it. As all of you know, Sam and Callen are strong and individual characters, but one single mission changed everything. It was, in fact, their very first big undercover assignment together. ( They have worked on smaller cases before). Well, it was a really messy situation, but in the end it was a "Callen-saves-the-day-moment", he took a bullet for an already injured Sam, which earned him the necessary respect and trust, took down most of their opponents and defused a bomb. After that fateful day, G started to let Sam into his life, he still had trust issues, but it was different with his new partner, there was this mutual understanding and over the months they build up a brotherly partnership. The constant bikering annoyed the other agents but that is just the way they are and it lets them keep their sanity in their line of work.

Now, many, many cases, operations, talks, beers, times of laughters and tears, changes in the OSP center later, Callen was in a hospital.

Actually it is nothing special for one of the Agents to be hospitalized, but this time it was different: Callen has been shot five times... right in front of Sam.

It was a long day for the team and after the case was closed, Agent Hanna decided that he would take his best friend home, you can not exactly call it home, G is not the type to stick around at one place for too long, he always checked into different hotels or appartements after several months. When they finally arrived at Venice Beach, the part of Los Angles, where Callen currently stayed at, they had yet another friendly banter going on between them. Sam made fun of G again, about his habits of changing places to live at and so on...

Before Callen left the car, he mentioned that he felt like he was being watched. Something really bothered the Lead Agent and it was hard for Sam to see his partner suffer like that.

Nonetheless, Sam smiled, as his partner closed the door and walked off, when a red cabriolet appeared in front of his car, with some good-looking women in it, who smiled and winked at him. He was married to a wonderful woman, with which he had two children, and he would never do anything to jeopardize that relationship, but hey, let a man have his fun

. When Sam wanted to start the engine of his car to finally comence his way home to his family, he cursed the driver of a black van, that just passed the alley in which he parked in, in an alarming speed.

Right after that, one of the van´s doors slid aside, revealing a masked man with a machine gun, aiming at Callen, who was oblivious to all that was happening behind him.

Sam watched in horror as the van sped up to G, but his attempt to warn his friend came to late. In the exact same moment as Sam desperately called out his partner´s name, G looked around, a content smile on his face, watching the sunset, the inevitable happened; Callen was gunned down almost barbarically. People screamed and ran away, in an attempt to hide from the shooter in the black van, who seemed to has lost interest in anything else than having the sick satisfaction of seing his target bleeding out on the ground.

By impact, the deadly force of the bullets pushed Callen back into a fruit stand behind him and knocked him to the ground where his body landed in a weird angle. Sam ran towards the horrific scene and aimed his gun at the off speeding van, the one vehicle he wanted off the road... but it was hopeless, it was already too far away and Sam needed to put his full attention on his injured friend who he heard gasp in pain.

The huge ex Navy SEAL fell to his knees and rolled Callen onto his back and the sight he was greeted with was literally bloody. While he held onto G and demanded him to hang on, he called 911. There has never been a time where Sam was more terrified, he had lost many people who were close to him, but damnit, G was family, he was like a brother to him and seeing the usual coky, funny and smartass, fearless but selfless agent so still and wounded, made Sam scared, sad and angry at the same time; angry becasue he was not able to stop these guys from harming his partner and stopping them from escaping.

Sam was not really sure what his feelings really meant at the time but later he would find out that he kind of blamed himself for Callen´s situation, not the attack itself but the outcome of it... that Callen was gravely injured. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a gurgling intake of breath... G´s blue eyes were clouded in sheer pain and confusion and soon fell shut. There was so much blood, too many wounds to keep an eye on, so Sam concentrated to put pressure on the gunshot wound that bled most profusely.

Callen´s white shirt was almost not recognisable as a white one, soaked with all the blood. The stoic SEAL did not even notice a tear leaving a wet trail on his cheek as he held Callen in his arms and told him to hang on and not let him alone: "Hang on there, buddy...you have to stay awake G, it´s okay, you will be okay G..."

People who were hiding, suddenly appeared again, distanced themselves from the horrible sight in the middle of the street; there already was a huge pool of blood forming beneath the two characters who seemed to attract everyone´s attention to themselves...everyone around them was silent and shocked and not one single person moved a muscle as the long awaited sound of rescue vibrated through the air. the ambulance´s sirenes.

A horde of paramedics rushed to Sam and the now unconscious Agent Callen...at least he was still breathing. It took some time for the paramedics to asses the extent of the Agent´s wounds and at least try to staunch the flow of the bleeding. When they finally secured him onto the gurney and rolled him into the ambulance, Sam, who was still speechless and shocked, climbed into the driver´s seat of his car and hurried up to follow the ambulance. Only minutes before the arrival at the hospital, the paramedics took Callen to, Sam realised, he shoud call it in and tell the other´s at HQ about the incident, the attempt on Callen´s life.

After the third ring, Macy answered the call, she was completely lost in her thoughts when she noticed her phone was ringing, and was then confused of why one of her Agents would call her after the case of the day was closed.

She did not even attempt to hide her annoyance in her voice, but Sam´s breathless and distraugth voice, which was usually calm and soothing, rattled her out of her stupor; Callen was shot in a drive-by shooting and was currently taken to the hospital...it was bad...

Macy actually never allowed herself to show any emotions in front of her people, she was tough and never wanted her agents to know that she cared deeply for them, but as Sam said, this was bad. Callen has been through so much already and this a situation, a situation that could change all their lives at NCIS OSP. What if G Callen would not make it, what if he could never return to work, what if... All of these questions were on Macy´s mind in that moment, she did not even say a single word to Sam, she ended the call and all at the sudden her knees felt like jell-o.

She never said it out loud, but Callen was her favourite agent, even though he NEVER listens to her; without really knowing, the conversation she had with Callen just hours ago was on her mind: "Gibbs is family... you too..."

At the hospital:

Sam stood in front of a sink in one of the hospital´s bathrooms. He was rubbing his hands like crazy, they were stained with G´s blood, which has long since dried. Even his clothes were soaked with it, from when he held his best friend in his arms and tried to stop the blood from gushing out of the numerous wounds.

The NCIS Agent knew that he must look bad, with all the blood stains, the red eyes ( when you ask him about it now, he would always deny that he even spilled one single tear for his partner, but the other agents who have been there with him, know the truth ) and the look in general on his face... the worry was clearly showing on his face. When he called Mace, he knew that something was off, becuase she just hung up on him. Deep down he knew that she cared for her co workers, but there has never been one case, where Mace hung up on anyone before, but Sam could not blame her, he could only imagine what he sounded like when he told her that Callen had been shot, and that it was bad, did not really help the fact that his voice betrayed his real emotions, which he usually hid perfectly under a neutral tone.

Sam was still scrubbing on his hands, when his phone started vibrating. The caller ID displayed Kensi´s number and then Sam dried his hands off on his already ruined jeans and answered.

"Are you okay Sam? Mace just told us about what happened, she immediately put Eric on it... to see if there are any traffic cameras... I´m on my way to the hospital now, Nate´s coming with me... We´ll be there in 10... "

_Great, Nate is coming... I do not need him to get inside my head now..._

Sam was not sure about what to think about the fact that the departement´s psychologist was accompanying Kensi.

Sure, he was part of the team as well, a crucial part of it... but Sam did not need Nate to bother him about what he witnessed just about half an hour ago... it seemed as if hours had passed since he was holding a bleeding Callen on the blood-soaked ground. How could something like that occur on such a beautiful evening? A case was solved, the NCIS Agents from DC were on their way back to their precinct, Sam was looking forward to embracing his lovely wife at home and even the weather was great. Just moments before he was running after the van, he even admired the beautiful sunset on Venice Beach, that tinted the whole street in a warm, orange light. Everything was too good to be true.

After these thougths crossed Sam Hanna´s mind, he left the bathroom to go back to the waiting area of the hospital where he sat down and began to rub at his hands again.

When he arrived at the hospital, the paramedics had already brought Callen into the lobby, where doctors rushed forward to help, no one even noticed Sam. Just when they rolled his partner off into the OR, a nurse approached him and asked him things he did not understand, in the end, Hanna needed to fill in some forms and then was ushered to a bathroom, truth be told, Sam looked rattled, exhausted really and with his bloody hands and clothes, even scary. Now all he could do was wait for any news on his partner, and pray to the Lord that it would be good news.

He was then startled by someone touching his shoulder; it was Kensi.

She hugged him as tightly as she could and tears started streaming down her face. Everything was real now, now that she was at the hospital and with Sam in front of her, whose clothes where soaked with a lot of Callen´s blood. Kensi Blye just had not belived the story Macy told them about their team leader G Callen. The truth has started to sink in now.

Even though Sam felt like crying too, he stayed strong for his friend´s sake and hugged her back and then when both of them felt like it, they turned to Nate who was uncharacteristicly quiet. Two other persons were occupying the waiting room, they just observed the scene before them and bowed their heads: they could relate to what the newest addition to their partie were going through, because they were also waiting for news on their beloved people who were in need of a surgery.

" What exactly happened, Sam? I know, it hurts to talk about it, but Kensi and I need to know everything... and I just want to help you deal with it..." There it was, Nate´s calming voice.

The three of them sat down silently, as far away from the civilians as possible. Sam took a deep breath and started telling them about what happened after Callen and him left the OSP center. (...) "and then you guys came..." - Sam closed his eyes and swallowed hard...

Hours passed by, several cups of bad hospital coffee piled up in the bin next to Nate´s chair. Desperate moments of pacing around the halls near the waiting area, and attempts of Nate to engage Sam in a converation later, Kensi fell asleep, her head resting on Sam´s shoulder. It was already late, given the fact that Callen was shot in the evening, and that several doctors disappeard in an OR with G hours ago for surgery. Mace had called once, to ask if Callen was out of surgery yet and to let them know that she did not find anything on the videos, Eric found of the attck. She would come by later. There was so much to do... Macy had to call Director Vance, just to name one thing.

Finally, to Nate´s relief, Sam started talking again, in a hushed voice, as not to disturb Kensi´s slumber.

" There was so much blood, Nate... too much... I could not do anything about it... Damn, I should have reacted faster, I saw the van even before the man aimed his gun at G... " - Sam did not dare look up at his collegue, he did not want to see his judging stare... but Agent Hanna should have known better...

" Why do you beat yourself up about something you had no control over? You did good Sam, you´re probably the reason that Callen is still alive... The man in the back of the van did this to Callen, not you... You´re only human Sam... You did all you could for your partner and I know that Callen will thank you for it later..." - With that statement, Nate put a hand on the big guy´s shoulder, which made Sam look up into the psychologist´s honest eyes, but all he was capable of doing right in that moment, was to simply nod.

Another 30 minutes later , Nate walked off to the hospital´s cafeteria, he hoped, even though it was the middle of the night, that he could find something to eat for his friends and himself. Truth be told, even he was nervous about the whole situation with their team leader who fought for his life in the OR, and he needed to occupy himself with something.

A psychologist, as he was one, should know best how to handle moments like these, he helps everyone deal with situations, but no one could prepare you for something like this when you were involved in it yourself, not even a trained person like himself could stay 100 % cool now.

Nate could hide his emotions, but he could not hide his sweaty hands and his feet, that were tapping continuously on the ground. When Nate returned to the waiting room, Kensi woke up, she gladly took the sandwich, Nate offered her, but Sam could not even take one bite of it. Eating was Kensi´s way of processing everything Sam told them about the shooting. She was really scared, she had already lost two partners, since she started working for NCIS. Both times were bad, but she was not really close to both of her now dead partners...

It was different with Callen though. When she was assigned to Special Agent Callen´s team, she had a hard time at the beginning, but soon she got the chance to prove herself to him and Sam. After that she got to know both of them better and soon all of them became good friends. As Callen likes to state, Kensi is his favourite Agent. And Callen was like a overprotective older brother to her. Kensi loved the team.

They were a family and the most important person of that family was in danger, was barely hanging onto life now. From what Sam told them, she knew the extent of their leader´s injuries was immense, it was a wonder, that he even survived the way to the hospital. The possibility of him not making it through the surgery was high, what would they do... no, she would NOT go there... Callen was strong, but still, Kensi was really scared, but she would stay strong for him.

At the OSP center:

Eric watched the surveillance tapes and traffic camera videos over and over agin. He just could not believe it... It was a heartbreaking sight, when Callen got shot and fell to the gound. The van just disappeared and nothing could indicate who did commit such a terrible thing. Eric wished he could find ANYTHING, but there was nothing that could help them find the bad guys. He knew, Callen had many enemies, but this made it only harder to find the people responsible for this crime.

Now, he just prayed that Callen would make it...

and he watched the video again... maybe he had missed something, even the samllest detail could help...

Back to Sam, Kensi and Nate:

Exactly 8 hours and !4 minutes after G Callen was rushed to the hospital, a weary looking surgeon came out of the OR wing, his scrubs were mostly red... Callen´s blood. He stepped into the waiting room ( the two civilians still sat there and another one joined them ) and called out with a tired voice " Family of Agent Callen? "

That was their cue, Sam, Kensi and Nate stood up immediately and confronted the surgeon, who was a man in his late forties, who still, even when looking exhausted, had a friendly face. Sam was the first one to say something: "We´re NCIS, we´re his family... I´m the one who was with him, when it happend." ( as if his bloody clothes did not prove it )

The man in front of the two NCIS Agents and the departement´s psychologist only nodded, to tired to argue, and signaled them to follow him. When they were out of the sight of the other occupants of the waiting room, the doctor started explaining

"I´m Doctor Smith, Agent Callen´s surgeon. First of all you need to know that your friend is stable for now, he is being settled into an ICU-room as we speak... he is still in a very critical condition and on life support... He coded twice on the table and the next 42 hours are crucial... I am going to be honest with you, it does not look good for your partner... the five bullets did one hell of a job on his body..."

when the surgeon mentioned this, Kensi gasped in shock and tears threatened to surface again, Nate and Sam could not hide their schock as well, though Sam already knew how bad his partner´s injuries were-

"all bullets were through and through... that is the good news. He took all the bullets to the chest, well one made impact right under his right collar bone... his shoulder blade was slightly damaged because of it, two bullets missed his heart by just millimeters and the other two bullet wounds are located in the rigth side of his chest... his lung took some extensive damage and we had to insert a chest tube, but otherwise we were able to repair the damage...as a result from those GSW´s he has two broken ribs...

All in all,he´s very lucky that the bullets didn´t hit any major organs or venes, and that he´s even survived so far, but Agent Callen lost a LOT of blood...the next few hours will be rough... I´m not too hopeful, I´m sorry, but now it´s up to your friend now. He´s strong and a fighter, but there is only so much that a human body can withstand...We had to put him into a medical induced coma to allow his body to heal... "

These words were harsh, but at least they were told the truth... the team did not need someone sweet-talking the situation.

Nate quickly asked if it was possible to see their friend, but Callen´s doctor, who just got a 494 minute long surgery over and done with, seemed a little annoyed now after taking his time to explain everything to the Agents. Furthermore, he was not particularly happy about that question.

Doctor Smith talked about his patient being settled in, needing his rest, that it would not be advisable to go in there and so on, but after a streneous argument, Nate finally convinced the doctor to let them in G´s room. A nurse showed them to it and they decided that it would be for the best if Sam would go in first and that Nate would call Mace and update her on the situation.

Before Sam was allowed to enter his best friend´s room, the nurse instructed him to properly wash his hands and wear specail scrubs and a mask. Callen could not need any infections. He was also told about all the machines G was hooked up to, but nothing could have prepared the tough ex SEAL for this: The man lying in the hospital bed did not even resemble his partner one bit...

Thick layers of bandages covered almost all of Callen´s torso... even his shoulders were heavily bandaged. G was deathly pale and he had dark circles under his closed eyes. Sam could also see all the different cables leading to a heart monitor and several other machines, that kept his partner alive...according to Doctor Smith, Callen was not strong enough to breath on his own yet, his lungs were damaged severely, He also needed blood transfusions. It was very disturbing to see all of this. IV lines, great, Callen will be _happy_ about all the needles when he wakes up... _if he wakes up_. G hated needles.

After the first moment of shock passed, Sam sat down on the uncomfortable chair next to his partner and carefully touched his hand, afraid of hurting him.

Kensi came into the room as well and she took another chair with her to sit beside Sam, she did not dare to say a word, she was scared again... Kensi Blye has never been so scared in her life before, she was a tough woman, but seing her brother-like-friend so ´fragile´ like this was too much.

As if to comfort herself she said to no one in particular: "He´s going to be alrigth..." -but it lacked her usual confidence. Sam Hanna laid his arm around the Junior Agent.

_He HAS to be okay..._

All one could hear were the different _beeps _and _whooshes_ the machines made, at least it meant that their team leader was alive.

15 minutes later Macy appeared in front of her Agent´s hospital room, in the ICU-Station, where she found Callen´s Doctor and Nate, who told her everything he already told the others. Of course she was shocked as well, but she hid her fears well.

She asked Nate about Kensi and Sam, if they would be okay and he told her about Sam blaming himself for Callen getting shot. That was to be expected, but Macy hoped that all of her Agents would be okay. Having her people in a hospital, was not easy on her either. It was going to be a really hard time for all of them.

When Sam and Kensi heard voices coming from the hallway, both left their friend´s side to check out what was happening out there. Lara Macy, also known as Mace, the Spacial Agent in Charge, came by and they just saw her thanking Doctor Smith for everything and then turning towards them. Kensi took a closer look at Mace, but was not able to figure out in what mood she was in right now. That was the thing with Agent Macy, she was hard to read and you did not often see her displaying any emotions... there were times were the Agents did not want to come across her, becuase her mood changes were terrible and quite scary, though, Kensi knew that Macy was struggling with coming to terms with the situation that one of her Agents got shot and was currently in a coma.

"All of you should go home now, it´s been a long day and you need to preserve your strenght for the next few days, we can´t do anything for Callen right now."

Kensi and Nate both gave in and went to Callen´s bed one last time, or in Nate´s case, for the first time. His collegue gently kissed Callen on the cheek and silently told him to hang on and then she quickly left the room, she was simply too emotional then, and Nate just stood there and watched their leader´s bandaged chest rise and fall, with the aid of the numerous machines. "You know Callen, you have so many people here, who are worried about you... you have to wake up soon..." with that last statement, the psychologist left the room as well, even though he wanted to stay there for their friend.

Sam strongly protested to leave his partner: "I can´t leave him now Mace, and you know that. He is my partner and I have to be there for him... I don´t want to lose him, I just can´t..."

"I know Sam, but honestly, you look like hell... you should go home to your family, take a shower, change out of these clothes and have something to eat, there will be enough time for to worry about Callen. First of all you have to take care of yourslef. I don´t want another one of my Agents to pass out..."

But this did not keep Sam Hanna from staying with G. Like the doctor said, this night would be rough, Callen was not out of the woods yet, the chances for him to even survive this night were extremely low, and Sam would stay with him, no matter what, he would always be there for G, as G has always been there for him as well. G was family.

Macy went back to see if Eric got something off the videos and to call Director Vance, again, and the next few hours were rough indeed; Sam fell asleep after telling Callen some random things, he just wanted G to know that he was not alone there in the hospital ( people always said that patients in a coma could still kind of notice things that were going on around them ) , and then suddenly Sam was awoken by some strange noices... all the machines were beeping rapidly, Callen´s heart stopped beating...

Doctors and nurses came rushing into the small room and were immediately at his side and did everything they could to save G. It was too much for Sam, he only kept his eyes on his still partner and did not even notice anything that happened then and there. After several attempts to get their patient´s heart started again, a nurse confirmed it " We have him back... thank God "

Sam could not believe it... everything that had just happened seemed surreal.

After they checked and rebandaged Callen´s wounds again and settled him in again, everyone disappeared and Sam was left alone again, alone to his thoughts and fears.

He remembered all the times where either one of them had been injured or sick and they had always been there for each other. Always when Sam was in a hospital, his best friend and partner had been there for him, looking worse than the wounded Sam himself, because he never slept during those days and did everything he could for Sam. And Sam would repay him now.

Over the next few days, that passed without incidents, Sam only went home to tell his wife about it and see his kids, to take showers, change clothes and rest, but as soon as possible, the Agent returned to the hiospital. When Sam was not there, either Kensi, Nate, Eric or Mace were with Callen. He was never alone.

Of course everyone was worried... Callen has still not woken up from the coma. All of them were stressed and exhausted, but considering the situation with their fearless leader being the one, who was injured, they were fine. While the memebers of their team sat with Callen, they always talked about old times, memories that are important to all of them. They hoped that their friend would know that he was not alone and it was like a therapy for them. Talking about those things helped them deal with the situation.

Now it was Sam´s turn again, to sit by his friend´s side.

As he held G´s hand, he suddenly felt it twitching slightly.

Is he waking up?

"G...? Can you hear me? Come on, open your eyes... you can do it..."

Now his eyelids were twitching as well. Sam took that as a sign to press the nurses call-button. He heard a soft groan coming from the person he was just bending over... jap, Callen was coming out of the coma after 8 long days.

After several moments G Callen finally opened his heavy eyes and immediately started coughing and sucking for air, something was stuck in his throat and he did not like it one bit. The first thing Callen noticed, was the smell... hospitals always smelled the same, no matter where you were. At least someone was so nice to have not turned the lights on, and then all he felt was this excrutiating pain. Everything hurt.

He desperately wanted to breathe, but even that caused him immense pain like he has never felt before. His lungs felt like they were on fire and there was not even one part of his torso that did not hurt. Then he heard someone calling his name, Sam calling his name, and Callen remembered getting shot and Sam calling his name then as well. It was the same desperate voice and it was like a déjà-vu. Callen knew that he would be fine, Sam was there with him and trying to calm him down and soon nurses and doctors appeared by his side...

He did not really listen to them, he could not have listened to him if he wanted to, but then the tube that was supposed to help him breathe, was removed and now his throat hurt like hell as well. The sudden removal of that tube caused him to cough, which made him want to loose consciousness again.

Callen tried to talk, but his throat was so sore and his mouth felt like it was stowed with cotton, so he failed and his head started pounding now as well. It was too much to bear, but nothing would relieve him from all the pains and aches.

His partner assured him that everything was okay and when all the nurses left, Doctor Smith introduced himself to his patient and started to slowly and quietly explain everything that has happened. The hospital staff had already given up on him, given the injuries he had sustained and the huge amount of blood he lost, but Callen was still alive and breathing, and he was glad, that he proved the doctors different, that he regained consciousness again.

A nurse came back into his room and she gave him something for the pain and soon Callen drifted off to sleep again.

Sam was so glad and relieved, that his friend woke up from the coma and was going to be okay again...even though it would take him months to fully recover.

It took a load off everyone´s minds of the NCIS OSP team, now they could return back to their normal life, of course they would always be there for Callen, especially now, that the hardest time will begin, the hard time of Callen´s recovery, but the team did not have to worry about him anymore, if he would make it. G Callen was out of the woods.

Two days later, after Callen was finally able to stay awake long enough to talk, he already complained about all the needles, like Sam predicted, and made jokes... it were good times. The first time, after waking up from his coma, that Callen was able to talk, his first words to Sam were: "You look like hell, probably worse than me, did you even get to sleep?"

Sam could only laugh at those words, G sounded exhausted, tired and like he was in a lot of pain, but, yeah, Callen was definitely feeling better.

Callen did not dare move one muscle of his damaged body, even though he was on some pretty good stuff, pain meds, but still, he knew that everything would hurt badly. Sam told him everything about those days, when it was not sure if he would even make it through those days, and he could not be more thankful to his team, especially Sam, whom he owed his life.

With his still raspy voice Callen said: " Thanks Sam... I mean it...You saved my life and I really appreciate what you have done... I am glad to be able to call you my partner."

Sam just smiled and hold out his fist to his best friend, who slowly bumped his fist with his friend´s.

"That´s what friends are for..."

The End


End file.
